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Nanotechnology in Photovoltaics - In search of the elusive concept of Density-of-States

Webinar - October, 27th 2016 - 11:00 – 12:00 CEST

Prof. David Fuertes

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid - Instituto de Energía Solar

Abstract:

Nanostructures are currently commonplace in a number of technological areas, PV not being an exception. Behind the potential advantages of nanostructures in improving the performance of solar cells lies a rather simple concept, though not always easy to grasp: the density of states (DOS). In this seminar we try to give response to the following questions: why and how nanostructures are expected to improve our current photovoltaic devices. It will be shown that the DOS is an ultimate key parameter to answer both questions. A fair comprehension of the concept is thus necessary in order to understand the usefulness of different approaches based on nanostructures aiming at an improved solar cell efficiency. With current PhD students as intended audience, we will review the basics of the DOS theory and also try to provide useful information on the practical use of "nanostuff" in solar cells. Finally, a brief review of present state of the art of functional approaches will be provided.